LATE NEWS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10057, 23 August 1918, Page 6

LATE NEWS

GREAT BRITISH THRUST DETAILS OF THE OPERATIONS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received August 23, 1.15 a.m.) LONDON, August 22. Von Below’s Seventeenth Army, with "probably "fifty battalions, opposed w-day_ a British advance. Tho enemy's front lino was thin but deep, and was arranged not in continuous trenches but m isolated outposts and machinegun positions ono behind the other for a considerable distance. The railway between Albert and Arras, consisting largely of cuttings and embankments, botu equally serviceable for checking tho attack, formed the real line of defence. Accordingly along this railway the heaviest fighting was expected, fcio it turned out. Achiot-le-Grand upon tho railway, and Achiot-10-'Petit just westward of it and towards Miraumont, on tho Aucxe, wore, regarded as the central points of the first day’s attack and likely to bo tho strongest points of resistance, i.-. The attack was divided . into two sections,- the northern on- a 10,OW yards front, and the southern on a 5000 yards front, the latter coming into action an hour after tho former, probably because it was nearer the railway;' Tho command did not expect a strategic surprise, but hoped for a tactical surprise. So it proved. Suddenly tho still night air shook by the outburst of- guns, and orange tongues of flame flickered through tho thick mist. Tho torrent of smoke, lire and death continued for three hours like the incessant throbbing of a gigantic mill. Men advanced in waves under tho barrage, not leaping out of tho trenches nor rushing on wildly, but walking quickly across No Man’s Land. Soon wounded began to trickle back. It is stated that the tanks led the first lino of assault by about 100 yards. It is always impossible to learn tho details of an engagement immediately, but the inevitable perplexity was increased in the morning by the dense m:st and the smoke of tho barrngo bn the high ground outside Bucquoy, and one could not see more than. fifty yards in any direction until 11 o’clock, whop the mist dissolved, leaving a hot, cloudless autumn' day. Tho mist was at first to our advantage, hut led to some confusion among tho infantry and tanks. Happily the Germans were already withdrawing their guns, and only now and then shells came splashing over the lines. Unfortunately one splashed into the very thick of am advanced dressing station. The Germans, except the machinegunners, did not stay long in their positions. Some of our infantry, it is stated, walked straight forward for over a mile without seeing the enemy. Certainly the resistance was slight until tho railway was r(.ached. Hero tho opposition' became a very different matter. The wounded increased directly our lines approached. "We learned during the afternoon that tanks and -some infantry were across tho railway, which means success for the whole movement. It is reported that there were about 1000 tmwounded prisoners. Two hundred were taken in.one clutch outside Courcelles. Everyono is pleased with tho results so far. If we hold the railway ■•n r-. a v nussibly see Bapaume again before long.